Before the Rise
by Laura x Tennant
Summary: This is a bit of a retelling of parts of Rise of the Cybermen. Specifically the on-the-way to the mansion/Jackie's birthday party part. Before everything goes wrong, etc.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is a bit of an, ahem, retelling of parts of Rise of the Cybermen. Specifically the on-the-way to the mansion/Jackie's birthday party part. Before everything goes wrong, etc._

_::_

**_Before the Rise_**

After convincing the Doctor to allow them to meet her parallel father, Rose was in rather high spirits, despite her growing nerves. They walked alongside the Thames for a bit, planning what they were going to do when they arrived at Pete and Jackie Tyler's rather large mansion.

"I can't believe it all worked out for him. God, if Mum really knew the extent of it..." She shook her head wistfully. "When she told me stories about him, Mum pretended as though she thought he could've, you know, _made it,_ made it big, made it rich, if he'd lived. But when we went back, when I spoke to him...when I saw the way _she _spoke to him, it all sounded as though she didn't have much faith in his schemes. No one did. Thought they were useless. And yet..."

"And yet here, he's got it all," the Doctor surmised. "Big house, all the money, success, a wife." He paused for a moment. "I wonder if there's another you," he pondered thoughtfully.

She shrugged. "I didn't see any mention of kids in the biography I read when I searched him on my phone. So either they don't talk about personal stuff to the public or whatever, or..."

"Or there isn't another you," he concluded, finishing her sentence again. "Hmm. Shame."

Rose rolled her eyes. "What, were you thinking of trading me in?"

He sniffed contemplatively. "Weelll..."

She punched him in the arm.

The Doctor laughed and grabbed her hand. "As if I'd do such a thing." He gave her his most innocent smile then ruined it with an, "Although..."

"Oi, watch it," she told him firmly, raising an eyebrow. "Or I will stay."

His smile turned into a nervous one. "No, but really Rose, they aren't your parents, and you can't do that. You can't stay. Not only would it be significantly problematic for me to return to your mother without you, but it would probably completely - "

"Cause a paradox, ruin the fabric of time and space, yeah, yeah, I know," she waved him off dismissively.

He frowned. "Actually, I was going to say that it would probably completely destroy my capacity for dealing with loss and leave me an utter wreck, but yes, it's also potentially damaging to time and space."

She stopped walking and looked up at him. "What?"

"What?" he repeated, as though denying he'd even said anything. He resumed their walk and tugged her along after him.

"Doctor," she persisted.

"Rose," he countered, unyielding.

"Is this one of those times you say something really deep and meaningful about our sort-of-relationship to emotionally blackmail me into doing something, and then brush it aside? Like the other day when you practically wrote me a love poem just so that I wouldn't eat the last banana? Is this a repeat of that?"

"Maybe," he mumbled, swallowing hard.

"'Cos you know, I'm starting to mentally note these moments down. They're getting kind of frequent. Might even be daily, actually. Let's see...oh yes, I do believe yesterday at the Freirovian market was another prime example."

"Alright, alright, let's leave yesterday out of this."

"No, no," she disagreed, smiling up at him cheekily. "Let's leave yesterday very much in this. You see, by my reckoning, yesterday marked the twenty-sixth time you've not denied we're a couple. Seven of those times have been to my ex-boyfriend, by the way, but that's another matter entirely."

"We sort of nearly are, though, when you think about it," he muttered. He refrained from informing her that it was actually the thirty-third time he had not denied their couple-ness.

"We've never had sex," she retorted bluntly.

He pretended not to be completely shocked at her casual declarative statement. "Well then, maybe we should get around to that at some point," he countered, hoping to unbalance her and recover control of the conversation.

"Well maybe we should."

"Which means of course, for that to be feasible, you can't stay in this universe."

"Like I would anyway," she scoffed. "With Mum in the other one."

He sniffed contemplatively. "Remember what I said Rose – parallel world, gingerbread house."

"I just want to see what he's like, yeah? Anyways, you'll be right there, ready to intervene if things go wrong. Again."

He smiled softly. "I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"I know," she replied, returning his smile. She glanced around them for a moment. "Right, fancy getting a taxi?"

"Yeah, alright. Oooh look, someone's getting out of that one over there, let's grab it."

They dashed over to the taxi and Rose told the driver the address.

"Ah, no sweetheart, sorry," he said apologetically.

The Doctor bristled at his comment, more for the fact that he'd called Rose 'sweetheart' than anything else. "What do you mean?"

"That place is gonna be swamped what with the party tonight!"

"Party?" asked the Doctor.

"It's Mum's birthday," Rose told him.

"I can take you within about three miles, but it'll be impossible to get any closer than that 'cos of security and caterers and the like, I expect."

Rose smiled at him gratefully. "That's okay, we'll walk the rest of the way."

"Alright then," he shrugged.

Rose and the Doctor sat silently in the back of the taxi for a minute or so. She could feel the Doctor's eyes on her but firmly looked out of the window, worried about what his insistent gaze meant.

"Rose?" he murmured, and she couldn't ignore him any longer.

Turning around to face him, she replied, "Hmm?"

"I just...I want you to know that, um." He cleared his throat. "That what we were talking about, earlier..."

"It's okay," she mumbled. "You don't have to - "

He grabbed her hand and interrupted her. "But I want to explain. I just." He sighed heavily. "I need to ask you. The er, jealousy thing. Does that bother you?"

Rose raised her eyebrows, having not expected that. "Um."

"It's just, I can't seem to help it," he murmured next. "And I know we aren't _really _a couple, but. Well." He tugged at his earlobe. "Don't you ever think that maybe - "

"You're just doing this 'cos you're still scared that I'm gonna choose the parallel version of my dad over you, Mum and Mickey, aren't you?" she realised.

"No – what?"

She squeezed his hand. "You don't do this. You don't talk about this stuff, not properly. And that's okay. That's you, I get that. But don't dangle this in front of me like some sort of Doctor-shaped carrot just because you think that I've been tempted by the idea of having a proper father. I know nothing about him, or this version of my mum. I just want to _meet _him, okay?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. Okay. But that doesn't change the fact that, well, what you mentioned about the, er, you know, the thing..."

"The thing?"

"Yeah," he coughed uncomfortably. "The thing. The thing that we don't do..." he trailed off meaningfully, widening his eyes.

"Oh. Right. Yeah?"

"Well. What I said about that thing, about it maybe being about time we did do that thing, I, um. That is, if you wouldn't be opposed to the idea, I think, perhaps, if you want, I'm not so scared of the idea anymore."

She raised an eyebrow. "You were scared?"

"Obviously," he rolled his eyes.

"Why?" she laughed.

"Because you mean – it's – what we've got, already, it means a lot to me. A significant amount, in fact. And I don't want to ruin that. I don't want to lose you. But now, I dunno, I just." He shrugged.

"What's brought this on?"

"Nothing, really. I don't know. You mentioned it so casually and it didn't give me a heart attack – in either one – therefore I inferred that I'm not so scared of the prospect. Because every atom of my very being reckons it would be...fun."

Rose smiled. "Well, yeah, it would be fun."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." They stared at one another for a few moments, each imagining such an event, then Rose continued, "Listen, maybe we shouldn't keep talking about this now..."

He nodded distractedly, his eyes refusing to move from her face, from her lips.

"No, seriously," she murmured breathlessly, unable to look away from his darkening eyes. She squeezed his hand. "Let's talk about this later. Back at the TARDIS. Yeah?"

He nodded again, refocusing. "Yes. Right. Yes." He squeezed her hand back and then sincerely couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. "This is..."

Rose giggled back. "Surreal," she whispered.

"Oh yes," he replied. "Also, brilliant."

"Never thought we'd even talk about it," she added.

"No?"

"Nope. Always thought that if it _did _happen, it'd just be...you know. Random. Hurried. Never spoken of, after."

The Doctor frowned, and shifted closer to her on the backseat. "Rose, I wouldn't..." he trailed off with a sigh, and released her hand so that he could reach his up to cup her cheek. His free hand grasped her shoulder, urging her to turn slightly to face him better. Their knees bumped and he gave her a soft smile, his thumb stroking her cheek tenderly. "Rose," he whispered again. He leant his head forwards a fraction. "You know I - "

Rose tilted her head and pressed a kiss to his parted lips, lingering there as she felt him expel a sigh. She was about to withdraw her mouth when he suddenly kissed her back, taking her by surprise as he coaxed her own lips open. His hand on her shoulder slid up her neck and into her hair, and Rose inclined her body closer to him as she grabbed hold of his arms. Their kiss was slow at first – an exploration. Then, something inexplicably and simultaneously altered the pace for both of them, and the kiss became rather more impassioned.

The hand he'd been resting against her cheek migrated down the length of her arm, his fingertips dancing over her skin, raising goosebumps. When it reached her thigh, he curled his fingers around it, tugging her against him, raising her leg so that the back of her knee was positioned over his; and though a somewhat awkward arrangement due to their location, they hardly noticed any discomfort. Satisfied that she was as close as possible, he wound his arm around her waist, holding her as he usually did, the way he never tired of; though of course, the action was now accompanied by their heated kiss, which made it an infinitely more enchanting embrace than usual.

They kissed until Rose needed to pause for breath, and then, once she'd retrieved enough oxygen, they kissed some more. As well as pauses to gasp in air, there were pauses to giggle, to chuckle together over their strange and new situation. It was just as the Doctor had lowered his mouth to her neck that they felt the taxi screech to a halt. The driver cleared his throat softly and mumbled something about how they'd arrived at their destination. The Doctor and Rose sat back up properly, from where he'd sprawled slightly over her, and they removed their limbs from around one another. Once they'd caught their breath and righted their hair, they smiled pleasantly at the driver, paid him for the journey, and exited the vehicle, ignoring the way the man smirked at them both when he waved goodbye as he drove off.


	2. Chapter 2

_Part 2_

_::_

"Well," murmured the Doctor, as he watched the car drive down the road.

"Indeed," she muttered back. They turned their heads to regard one another at the exact same time, and promptly burst into giggles. "Oh my god, what were we _doing."_

The Doctor grinned and grabbed her hand, nodding in the opposite direction and starting to lead the way towards where the Tyler mansion must be. "We were doing something very, very nice. Something that we should've done ages ago and repeated often," he informed her wisely.

"I know, but in a _taxi?" _she laughed.

The Doctor shrugged. "He didn't seem to mind. Probably seen it all, taxi drivers." He looked up. "Ooh look, it's starting to get dark. Let's cut through these trees so that we can hide if any guests start arriving."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Alright, but if we get lost in the woods and some alien starts chasing after us -"

"Don't be silly," he sniffed. "It's perfectly safe."

"Oh, now you've gone and done it," she laughed. "Why must you _always _jinx it, eh?"

He pulled a face at her and nudged her towards the trees.

After just a few minutes of walking through the woods, the only sound the crunching of leaves and branches underfoot, the Doctor simply had to give in to temptation. Letting go of her hand, he whirled in front of Rose, pausing her in her step, and slid his arms around her waist, tugging her firmly against him. Pausing momentarily to look into her eyes and check his action was welcome, which it was, he grinned sheepishly at her then leant down and kissed her. Her arms wound around his neck, her fingertips tickling his scalp.

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?" she giggled against his lips. "Get me alone in a dark, empty wood."

He chuckled and guided her backwards to lean up against a tree. "As if I'd do such a thing. Lure such a lovely young lady into such a place..."

"Mmm, as if," she echoed, letting out a gasp as he dropped his mouth to her neck.

"Rose, we so shouldn't've started this earlier," he murmured against her skin. "Because now I'm rather inclined to suggest that we don't stop."

"Well, you get points for dedication," she laughed, running her hands through his hair. "But, may I ask, why now?"

"Why not?" he countered, then he raised his head to regard her properly. "I told you, anyway. I'm not..."

"Scared anymore," she finished. "I know. But still, there's a time and a place, and a taxi and a wood mid-mystery aren't either."

"It's hardly a mystery, Rose," he tsked, lifting his hand from its slow migration up her ribcage. It hovered there for a moment, in the air. "We're just going to a party to meet your parallel father."

"Yes, but we're also currently stuck in a parallel _world," _she reasoned, even as she moved his hand right back to its location just beneath her breasts. "One where they have weird earplug things in their ears that tells them everything they need to know and stuff, which seems very dodgy to me. So, we're stuck in a world where a mystery might be presenting itself in the form of weird Bluetooth devices..."

"Only for twenty four hours," he pointed out, not really listening, paying her heaving chest far more attention. He swallowed hard. "Hardly a dire crisis happening, not now I know the TARDIS is gonna be okay. And you know what they say. When in Rome...what happens in Vegas...and all that jazz," he mumbled, leaning in for another kiss.

She pushed his face away half-heartedly then giggled at his resulting pout. "Just a sec, yeah? Just want to...clarify something."

"Okay," he replied, smiling at her warmly.

"Actually two things. Two things I feel, right now, need clarification."

"Go ahead."

"Number one. When we go back to the proper universe, our universe. Things'll be...different, between us?"

"In a good way or a bad way?"

"That's what I'm trying to ask," she said impatiently. "What exactly do you see us doing, when the TARDIS is working again?"

"Same as what we always do," he replied, confused. He watched her carefully as her face fell, and grew even more confused. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just thought that you meant, when you said that it was about time for us to, you know, I thought you meant it'd be, um, more sort of. Permanent."

"Oh! Oh you mean that! Oh, okay, okay, sorry I didn't – I didn't realise. Right. No. Not the same as before in...that regard. Had enough lonely nights imagining this... Would rather we became...yes. Permanent. If that's – if you'd like that."

Rose nodded slowly, smiling up at him in relief. "Okay, good. Good. Yeah. Hold on..." She arched an eyebrow. "You've imagined this, eh? How did that go for you?"

He chuckled at her cheeky expression. "Oh, marvellously," he answered. "Of course, now I can acknowledge that it wasn't a patch on the real thing, though. Well, the kissing. Yet to experience the full, real-life sensory detail of the _other..._things. So I'll get back to you on that comparison."

She laughed and bit her lip adorably. "Good to know."

He bumped his nose against hers playfully. "What was the other thing you thought needed clarification?"

"Oh! Oh yeah, well," she explained, standing on tiptoes so that she could murmur her words against the corner of his mouth. She couldn't meet his gaze as she said this and she certainly couldn't raise her voice very loud to say the words, despite knowing they were alone amongst the trees apart from woodland animals. She was far too embarrassed. "As much as this feels very, very nice, and as much as I'm enjoying the kissing and the -" She paused and glanced down at his hand, scarcely able to believe this was all really happening. She kept in her squeal of delight and continued, " – fondling, _and _as much as I admit that the idea of it is quite...thrilling...I just thought you should be aware that there is no way that I'm gonna, you know, consummate this thing between us against a tree, in a wood, in February, two miles from my parallel parents' mansion." She drew her head back to face him properly.

"Three miles," he corrected with a grin. "At least three miles."

"Still," she said, rolling her eyes at him in mostly affection.

He nodded amicably and gave her a quick kiss before releasing her. He had to reach his hands forwards to steady her waist as she wobbled a bit, having grown used to his firm body keeping her pressed up against the tree for the last few minutes.

She grabbed onto his arms with a grateful grin, then slid her hand down to grab hold of his. "So...shall we head over to the party?"

"Yes, I think we shall. And I promise to keep my hands to myself during the event."

"Oh now, I didn't say you had to do that," she teased, nudging his shoulder with hers as the set off through the woods again.

"I think I'd better, though, unless you want me to use my limitless charisma to charm you into some sort of storage cupboard. Bet they have a pantry in their kitchen. Rich people always have pantries, don't they?"

Rose giggled at the idea. "You do realise that you could, essentially, get told off by my dad for doing such things under his roof without him actually being my dad or even knowing that he's my dad?"

"Yeah, it's the idea of another Jackie slapping me into my next regeneration that I'm more worried about."

"Best not do anything appropriate in her pantry then," Rose grinned.

"Best not, no," he grinned back. Then he frowned in thought. "It would be terribly unhygienic, wouldn't it?" Then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Oh no, what now?"

He chuckled to himself for a moment, then shook his head, seemingly shaking away a thought.

"What?" Rose persisted.

"Nothing, nothing. Still wouldn't solve the terrifying problem of Jacqueline Tyler's wrath, so."

"Doctor, tell me."

He tugged on his ear with his free hand, trying to hold back a smirk. "It's just...well. A big house like that...bound to have several unoccupied bedrooms - "

"Doctor!" she shrieked, smacking his arm. "Stop it!"

"It was just a joke!" he insisted, laughing at her horrified expression. "I wouldn't _actually _suggest such a thing. Not when so many important people are likely to intend that party. Imagine the scandal! Mind you, it would certainly liven up what is like to be a rather bland evening for me, if Jackie's parties are anything to go by..."

"You are even more impatient than I realised," Rose murmured, shaking her head in amusement. "And you can't fool me; Mum may not be able to invite posh dignitaries and aristocrats or whatever to her parties, but I know you secretly love them. In fact, I reckon you love 'em more than you love those posh balls you take me to. After all, most of those Very Important People are actually quite boring and don't live up to your expectations, whereas my Mum's Powell Estate mates never fail to entertain you."

"Rose, I hardly call being accosted by a gaggle of your mother's friends entertaining. Gaggle. Is that the right word, gaggle? Swarm? School? What do you call a group of piranhas?"

Rose couldn't help but laugh. "Doctor, you're awful. And they didn't _accost _you."

"They most certainly did. At New Years' _and _your mum's birthday. The first time, they stopped me in my tracks and started badgering on at me about my intentions with 'dear Jackie's lovely young daughter' - "

"They didn't!" Rose gasped in surprise. She had not known this information.

"They did!" he confirmed.

"And what did you say?"

"I said that I had only honourable intentions," he sniffed haughtily.

"And what did they say?"

"They...didn't believe me. Anyway! The second time was even worse."

"Why?"

"Because they asked me when, exactly, I planned on proposing - "

"I'm gonna kill them," she muttered.

" – _and _when, exactly, you and I planned on bringing little Doctors and Roses into the world."

"_What? _No, no, no, no, _no, _why would they ask _that?" _

"You see? Scary stuff, Rose Tyler. And I put up with it all for you." He flashed her a charming grin, then continued, "To be fair, they were just drunkenly rambling. They probably don't even remember such events. But still, they scarred me for life."

Rose shuddered in sympathy, but then pointed out, "And yet I know for a fact that you know each of their names by heart."

"Well," he shrugged nonchalantly. "That's just being polite."

"Nah, you've just gone soft in your old age," she corrected him. "And you kind of secretly like the fact that Mum's flat is practically your holiday home."

"Yes, well. I have to visit with you, can't just stay on the TARDIS on my own and wait."

"You used to."

"Yeah, tried it, didn't like it. Got bored. And a bit lonely. Would rather endure Jackie's dinners than sit on my own talking to thin air."

Rose smiled knowingly. "Yeah, alright."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"About meeting another version of her and Dad?" She let out a long breath. "Don't think so."

The Doctor's lips twitched. He looked like he was fighting a sheepish grin.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just realised exactly how distracted and insensitive I am. It's really quite problematic."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you see, I was referring to something else."

"What?"

"I was wondering whether you were going to tell your mum about...us."

"Oh," Rose realised, letting out a small laugh. "Um. Well actually, I think she thinks we're together already. Like you said earlier, we sort of are a couple, apart from the lack of – you know."

"Mmm, I'd guessed as much, what with all her friends presuming we are. Although, I think they all think that we already do – you know."

"Probably, yeah," she laughed.

"So you're just going to...not bring it up?"

"What, you want to make an official statement?" she grinned.

"No, no. I'd just maybe like to be able to act more..." he trailed off, unable to find a suitable word.

"Couple-y?"

"Bit domestic," he scoffed at her choice of adjective.

"Well what, then?"

"I dunno, just...cuddle you when we're sitting on the sofa and tickle you when we're arguing and yeah, those sorts of things, the things we don't do in front of you mum in case she thinks we're together but now we can because we are. You see?"

She blinked at him silently for a moment, then repeated, "Couple-y things, then."

He sighed, conceding to her point. "Okay, fine, yes. Yes. Couple-y things."

"Yeah, alright, I'll have a word with her about it."

He nodded. "Great."

"Providing you're the one to tell Mickey."

His eyes widened. "No, no, no! No! That's not – no. That's not fair. Not at all. You were his girlfriend! That's your responsibility."

"What, so I get to deal with all the difficult conversations on my own, then? Thanks for that."

"Listen, if my parents were around, I'd take full responsibility of telling them," he reasoned.

"Oi, don't pull the last of the Time Lords card with this one, mister."

"What? I am being perfectly reasonable here. Your family. You do the explaining."

"So unfair," she muttered.

"I promise I'll tell Sandra, Tina and Debbie about us if you like," he bargained.

"HA! Told you that you knew their names!"

"Well unlike some people I make an effort in our relationship," he countered teasingly.

"We weren't even in proper relationship until you got your arse into gear earlier and actually told me you wanted to be in one."

"Yes, well, that's beside the point."

"Whatever."

"Rose."

"What?"

"I can see a big white house and a long driveway," he informed her, as they stepped out from the trees.

"Oh! Wow, look at that place!"

"Look at all these cars," he added. "Aha! A limo! We ought to ride in one of those some time. Oooh, when we get back to our Earth, maybe we should visit Hollywood! Pretend to be film stars! Would you like that?" he grinned excitedly.

Rose laughed and nodded. "Yeah, sounds fantastic."

He reached into his pocket. "For now, though..." He pulled out his psychic paper. "Who'd you wanna be?"


	3. Chapter 3

_Part 3_

::

"We could have been anyone," Rose muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Got us in, didn't it?" the Doctor retorted.

"You're in charge of the psychic paper. We could've been guests. Celebrities. Sir Doctor, Dame Rose. We end up serving. Did enough of this back home."

"If you want to know what's going on, work in the kitchens. According to Lucy, that man over there - "

"Who's Lucy?"

"She's carrying the salmon pinwheels," he informed Rose, looking down at her curiously.

"Oh, that's Lucy, is it?"

He managed not to smile in delight at her evident display of jealousy. This was certainly a turn up for the books. "Yeah. Lucy says, that is the President of Great Britain."

"What, there's a President, not a Prime Minister?"

"Seems so," he nodded.

"Or maybe Lucy's just a bit thick," she muttered.

The Doctor bit the inside of his cheek to reign in his grin. He was rather pleased that she'd finally started showing that old jealous streak of hers again. Recently it had been he who was the only green eyed monster on their travels. All too often these past few weeks he'd huffed and puffed in frustration as numerous people paid her attention and she let them.

"Excuse me!" announced Pete. "Thank you very much. Thank you, if I could just have your attention, please?"

"Pete! Go on, Pete!" shouted some unknown man in encouragement.

"Thank you very much! Um, I'd just like to say thank you to you all, for coming on this, this very special occasion. My wife's _thirty ninth._"

"Don't believe that one," laughed the man.

"Trust me on this," Pete replied cheesily. "And so, without any further ado, here she is, the birthday girl. My lovely wife, Jackie Tyler."

Rose blinked in astonishment as her not-mother made her entrance wearing a very tight black dress. She felt the Doctor nudge her with his elbow and looked up to see him watching her with a small grin.

"Now, I'm not giving a speech," said Jackie. "That's what my parties are famous for. No work, no politics, just a few good mates and plenty of black market whisky. Pardon me, Mister President. So, yeah, get on with it. Enjoy, enjoy!"

The Doctor's grin faded as he noticed the expression on Rose's face. "You can't stay. Even if there was some way of telling them."

"Course I can't. I've still got Mum at home. My real mum. I couldn't just leave her, could I. It's just, they've got each other. Mum's got no one."

"She's got you," he murmured gently. "Those two haven't. All these different worlds, not one of them gets it right."

"Rose! There's my little girl! Come to mummy, come to mummy!" cooed Jackie, as she picked up a small dog. "Yes, good girl! Good girl, aren't you?"

The Doctor snorted with laughter, then sobered under Rose's glare and murmured a mostly-sincere, "Sorry."

::

"If it makes you feel any better about our status as serving staff," the Doctor murmured to her as he nudged her towards the kitchen, "You do look rather fetching in that outfit."

"Oh my god, are you actually human?" she mock-gasped, setting down her tray. She looked around and saw that no one else was currently in that part of the room.

His brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "This sort of outfit. The maid thing. It's kind of a typically human fetish thing. Role-play and all that."

"Is it?" he remarked in surprise. "Oh. Well, you work the look."

"Thank you," she muttered, but she didn't sound all that pleased.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. He took one of her hands in his and squeezed gently. She shrugged a shoulder. "Rose, I always think you look..."

"What?"

He gave her a small smile. "You know."

"No, I don't, actually. You've not said," she countered, looking up at him with a mischievous sparkle in her gaze.

He waggled his eyebrows. "Visually appealing."

"Visually appealing?" she snorted.

"Yes," he confirmed, shifting closer to her. "Beautiful. Attractive." He lifted his hand and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Alluring. Desirable." He lowered his voice to a murmur, tilting his head towards hers. "Captivating, really; and many other things but mostly those. One might conclude, actually, that I, the Doctor, have a thing for you."

"Yeah?" she whispered, trying not to giggle and ruin the moment.

"Oh yeah," he whispered back, lowering his head. "In almost all circumstances."

"What's excluded, then, the dinner lady costume?" she laughed, looping her arms around his neck.

"No, no, you still looked rather tempting in that," he disagreed, running his hand up and then down her arm, raising goosebumps.

"Really?" she wrinkled her nose. "Then under what circumstances do you not have a thing for me?"

"Well the only notable exception I can think of, really, is that time you were covered in Astapii gloop."

"Yeah," Rose agreed amicably. "That stuff ruined my hair."

"Oh it wasn't your hair that was the problem, it was the smell," he confided, his eyes twinkling into her own as he pressed their foreheads together.

"Oh right," she realised, her smile widening. "Well luckily for me there are times when you aren't so appealing yourself."

"Oh yeah? Like when?" he teased cockily.

"Well, let's just say, I was the one who had to undress you at Christmas," she smirked, flickering her eyes down his body.

His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What are you trying to say?" he murmured, wrapping his arms right around her to tug her against him. "This body isn't good enough for you?" he demanded humorously.

"Won't know 'til I've tried it out, eh?" she grinned, then quickly pressed her mouth to his to stop him replying.

"Minx," he muttered against her lips, before deciding he ought to partake in their snog rather passionately in recompense.

They stood like that, in a small corner of the kitchen, wrapped up in each other and their kissing, for a good few minutes, only pausing to breathe in air once in a while. No one had come into the room and interrupted them, which was a success in the Doctor's book. However, he eventually heard someone's footsteps, and so he quickly opened the nearest door. He gently guided Rose through it, closing it behind him without ceasing their kiss, and pushed her up against the nearest wall, his hands migrating downwards to grasp her thighs, hoisting her legs up around his waist as she clung onto him, her fingers running through his hair and making him groan into her mouth –

There was a bit of a crash as something fell to the floor, and he blinked his eyes open. Rose, panting for breath, reached her arm behind him and switched on the light. They glanced around them and simultaneously looked back at one another, their eyes wide and lips twitching in amusement.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "We found the pantry all right, then," he remarked cheerfully.

"Shh," she murmured, trying to contain her laugh. She nodded her head towards the door. "Someone might hear."

The Doctor smiled and glanced down at the floor. "Ah, we knocked over a can of tinned pears. Typical," he muttered.

"Tinned pears are actually really nice," Rose whispered. "If only you'd give them a chance."

"They're _pears, _Rose. How nice can they be?" he retorted quietly.

"They're nicer than ordinary pears in my opinion," she told him. "Which they shouldn't be, really, but...well, they are."

"Bananas on the other hand, now, there's a fruit."

Rose groaned softly in frustration. He had such an obsession with bloody bananas.

"You know where you stand with bananas," he continued.

"Yeah, alright," she agreed quickly. "But let's get back to the fact that you've got my legs wrapped around your waist in my not-parents' pantry."

His grin lit up his face. "Yes, let's get back to that," he agreed, leaning back in to kiss her again.

"Doctor," she murmured, trying to sound stern when he lowered his mouth to her neck. "Doctor, we – oh, we – no, seriously we..._can't, oh god."_

"Rose, are you comfy leaning against these shelves?" he murmured, as he kissed his way down to her collar bone.

"Mmhmm," she replied distractedly.

"More comfy than against a tree?" he asked next, tightening his grip on her thighs as he shifted against her slightly.

Her eyes shot open. "Doctor, okay, we need to stop."

He sighed, and pressed a final kiss to her neck before raising his head. "You have such willpower," he whispered admiringly.

"What I want to know is, how comes you can't get this off your mind all of a sudden?"

"Rose, we _have_ been talking about this practically all afternoon and evening. And...well. Aren't you...excited? I don't just mean, you know, aroused-excited, I just mean...we've agreed to embark on this weird, new, _brilliant_ stage of our relationship and I can't wait. Although obviously I can wait, let's make that clear, I'm not saying that instantaneous gratification is completely and utterly necessary or else I'll spontaneously combust or something, I have some self-control, waited a long time for this, after all, so what's a few more hours...I just mean, as the expression says, I can't wait, because I'm so excited."

As Rose listened to him ramble she felt an overwhelming surge of affection for this daft, wonderful man, and she suddenly wondered if he knew. If he knew how she felt, if he knew that she wasn't going to change her mind, if he knew she wanted this just as much as him.

"Doctor," she murmured.

"Yeah?" he smiled down at her, in a way that made her feel utterly adored.

"There's...something I've been meaning to tell you."

He frowned slightly. "What's that?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad," she reassured him. "Doctor, I - "

She was untimely interrupted by the turning of the pantry's door handle. Their eyes widened and they both scrambled into action, unwrapping her legs and standing upright on the floor as he moved away from her and picked up and strategically held a crate of wine glasses in front of him. Rose grabbed a few boxes of napkins from where they were stored on a shelf behind the Doctor's head.

"Oh, hello," said a fellow waiter, as he entered the pantry. "Ooh, well done, you pre-empted me! I was just coming in for more glasses! And that's a good idea as well," he nodded towards Rose. "I think we're running out of napkins."

Rose and the Doctor both smiled neutrally, inwardly relieved. "Yes, we were just on our way out," the Doctor said cheerfully. "Off we go then."

The waiter nodded and backed out of the pantry. "I'll take those if you want," he said, relieving Rose of her napkins. "If you could sort out the glasses and fill them with wine or champagne? Then put 'em on these trays and I'll get the others to come in and take some more out to the guests."

"Sure, yes, absolutely," the Doctor replied, at the same time as Rose answered, "Of course."

Once the man left the room, Rose sighed in relief. "That was close," she muttered.

He grinned down at her. "It was a bit, wasn't it? How thrilling!"

She raised her eyebrows. "You some kind of exhibitionist?"

"No, no, but you have to admit the risk of getting caught is quite inspiring," he answered, sliding his arm around her waist.

"Once you get going you really can't think of anything else, can you? That a Time Lord thing?"

"Most certainly not," he retorted indignantly. He pressed a kiss to her temple and released her. "You just wait 'til I get you back to the TARDIS," he whispered, winking at her as he moved around the other side of the kitchen island counter.

"I will wait," she grinned back. "But let's be serious now. We both know you're going to throw yourself at me several more times this evening _before _we get back to the TARDIS."

"That may be so, but we also both know that knowing our luck I'll be thwarted every time. But in the TARDIS...no interruptions," he sighed wistfully.

"Apart from Mickey," Rose reminded him.

He pulled a face. "Oh bugger, forgot about him."


	4. Chapter 4

_Part 4_

_::_

"Pssst. Rose."

Rose pretended not to hear him.

"_Rose."_

Her lips twitched.

"Rose, please, I need your help, I've…I've accidentally spilt something all over the floor in the kitchen."

She rolled her eyes and sighed, placing the tray of champagne flutes on the sideboard before surreptitiously backing out of the room, towards the sound of the voice.

"What is it?" she asked the Doctor, as she discovered him hovering in the hallway.

He winced. "I knocked over a bottle of wine – don't worry, I caught it before it hit the floor, so it hasn't smashed into pieces, but the wine has gone everywhere."

Rose sighed and followed him into the kitchen, complaining, "You could quite easily clean this up by yourself, you know."

He grinned suddenly. "I know that. But I wanted to see you."

Handing him a mop, she arched an eyebrow. "Did you now."

"Yes. You disappeared for half an hour," he frowned.

"Yeah, doing this job that you so wonderfully acquired for me."

"Alright," he conceded. "It is my fault. But I still hold the view that this was the easiest way of getting in, plus - "

"'If you want to know something, work in the kitchens,' yeah, you've said. Only, this lot are rubbish, no one's gossiping about anything suspicious, so we're still in the dark."

He sighed. "Mmm. No one's told me anything else, either."

"Not even Lucy?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Not even Lucy," he grinned. "Maybe we should have a snoop around."

"Really?" she asked, in a dubious tone of voice. "What if we…"

"What?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows. "What if we get caught?"

"No, I was gonna say, what if we get distracted and then miss something happening?"

"And what could possibly distract us, Rose Tyler?" he smirked, leaning towards her.

"See, I knew it. I knew you'd try to pounce on me again. What happened to waiting 'til we got back to the TARDIS, hmm?"

"Weeelll," he drawled, grabbing her hand. "We might as well have a look around whilst everyone's busy in the main room, yeah? Silly to pass up the opportunity of discovering something interesting about your not-parents just because you're worried that you'll succumb to my irresistible charm - "

"Hey now, I didn't say that," Rose huffed stubbornly. "I'm perfectly capable of restraining myself, thanks."

"As am I," he insisted.

"Fine," she sighed, "Let's have a look around. Where first?"

He led her through the other side of the kitchen to another door. "Let's go this way, and see if there are any more stairs that aren't quite so in everyone's line of sight."

"Good idea," she agreed.

Hand in hand, the crept through the back of the house, until they came across a smaller, less ostentatious flight of stairs. "Told you," he remarked happily. "What's the betting that these are the stairs the servants have to use?"

"Blimey," Rose murmured. "I still can't believe that they'd live in a place like this. Mum would feel out of place."

"Would she though?" he asked gently. "I mean, if things were different…this is the life she could've had."

"Yeah," she replied shakily. "Yeah."

He squeezed her hand as they reached the top of the stairs and peeked into the first room on the right; a bedroom. "Could you imagine yourself waking up in a lavish room like that?" he teased, noting the posh décor.

Rose pulled a face. "I don't like it."

The Doctor smiled knowingly. "Your room is nicer than that, anyway."

"Yeah, it is," she smiled back, as they closed the door on that room and made their way down the corridor, checking out the others. "And who needs a massive house with posh wallpaper when you've got a bigger on the inside one that flies through time and space, right?"

"Exactly," he beamed. "Although, this room's nicer," he remarked, and stepped inside the one in question.

Rose followed him in. "Yeah, kind of understated. Much nicer than the over-the-top style of the others."

"Agreed." His eyes landed on the bed. "And this one hasn't got a four-poster with drapes."

"Mmm," she nodded. "Just a normal double bed with a normal, if old-fashioned, headboard. Much better. Not quite so intimidating."

"Indeed."

He glanced at her and swallowed thickly. She was biting her lip contemplatively and he suspected he knew what she was going to say.

"It would be really, really, _really _wrong, wouldn't it?" she whispered.

He didn't have to ask what she was referring to. "Yes. And, well, if we got caught, there might be serious…ramifications."

"Might get fired," she quipped.

"Yep. Also, I might get slapped by _another _Jackie Tyler."

"You keep going on about that, when the truth of it is, Mum hasn't slapped you for _ages."_

"Thank goodness," he muttered.

"So…"

"So."

She let go of his hand and turned to face him. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, eyes darkening. Rose could feel a blush staining her cheeks but she didn't care. This was the Doctor, the man she loved. The man she reckoned loved her back. She refused to feel embarrassed in front of him, especially considering that he'd been ready to make love to her against a tree and some shelving respectively. A nice, soft mattress within sight, and she was even readier.

"Doctor," she murmured. "I know I said I could restrain myself, but - "

He took a step towards her, his hands coming to rest lightly on her hips. "Rose." He gently tugged her against him, so that they were pressed chest to chest, before leaning down and capturing her lips in a heated kiss.

He moved backwards towards the bed, and she followed eagerly, her mouth not leaving his. They landed together on the mattress. Rose broke from the kiss to sit up, straddling his hips. "Hello," she murmured breathlessly.

"Hello," he whispered back, his throat tight, feeling absurdly emotional with her looking down at him so lovingly.

Rose glanced around them briefly before asking, "Whose room do you suppose this is?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't think it's anyone's. There aren't any personal belongings in here. Probably just another spare bedroom."

"Right," Rose nodded, pleased with his hypothesis. She absolutely did _not _want to conduct any…activities…in a room that could possibly be her not-parents'.

He slid his hands up her thighs to grasp her hips. "Not that this isn't lovely in itself, Rose, but do you think that maybe we could - "

"Oh," Rose laughed. "Yeah. I mean, we'd better hurry up anyway, right? In case someone realises we're missing and comes looking for us."

He sighed in relief, then surprised her by flipping them both over so that he was on top. "Would it be easier, then, to keep most of our clothes on, just in case?" he asked, with a cheeky smile.

Her eyes danced mischievously up at him. "I think that would be wise, yes."

The Doctor, delighted yet nervous, kept his eyes focussed on hers as his hands crept beneath her short black dress and sought out the waistband of her tights. Swallowing hard, he inched the tights down her legs, before realising something. "Ah. Boots."

Rose giggled as he encountered the obstacle to removing her tights completely. She lightly shoved him aside so that she could reach down and take off her boots and kick her tights off the rest of the way. "Better?"

His eyes swept over her bare legs before meeting her gaze. "Oh yes."

She smiled impishly. "I think you forgot something else, though," she teased, reaching under her dress to tug down her knickers.

But he stopped her, his hand closing around her wrist gently. "Let me?" he asked, in a whisper.

Mesmerised by the look in his eyes, she nodded, and he gave her a soft smile before resuming the task she'd begun. There was something unquestionably erotic about the movement, and he struggled to control his breathing, let alone his pulse rate.

"It's funny," she said quietly. "Even though we know we've got to be quick, we're…taking things slowly."

"I want you to be ready," he whispered back. "And I want you to know how important this is to me. How special. How – perfect."

"I am ready," she assured him. "And thank you, that's – it's important to me too, and I'm glad that you think so."

"Rose." His breath hitched as she undid his trousers, before pushing the garment, along with his boxer-briefs, down his thighs as far as necessary. "Rose, wait, are you sure?"

"We can go slow properly next time, I promise. But for now, please, just…"

He nodded in easy acceptance. "Yes. Of course," he agreed, then moved over her, settling comfortably between her thighs. Kissing her soundly again, he simultaneously entered her, their mutual moans of pleasure muffled by each other's lips.


End file.
